1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to network device security and, more particularly, to securing mobile devices in accordance with social and locational context cues.
2. Description of the Related Art
When users interact with their mobile devices, the interactions are dominated by short, focused uses performed in the context of other activities. For example, the user may check a smartphone several times over the course of an evening for information. However, for users who also use their devices in contexts where security policies are in place, the users may be frustrated by device-level lockdowns that force the user to authenticate on the device, even for non-sensitive application access.
Accessing protected resources on the device or over a network frequently requires entering a username and password or some other manual data entry. Such a task is onerous to mobile users, as it weakens the ability for the device to provide “information at your fingertips” functions. For example, if a user needs to check directions, read an email, and update a social media site over the course of a night, each function may necessitate re-authentication. Similarly, if a user is in a meeting and needs to access information relating to the business at hand, being forced to authenticate delays access to the information without providing any security benefit.